Taxes??

Hello out there. This is my first post! I have a question about taxes. I'm just starting to freelance fulltime and most of my clients so far are paying under the table. What about clients who don't - those who expect me to fill out a W2 or give my social. Is it worth it to do the work? Won't I be taxed heavily come tax time? How does this work? I'm just wondering what other people do about this. Any advice would be great.

I do believe this would belong in the Business and legal forum

Good luck with replies, taxes are always something we all need to be aware of.

Three things are certain in life, birth, death, and taxes. You should always file your taxes.

If you aren't making much then you won't be taxed heavily, if you are then you should be paying or it may well come back to bite you one day.

Being self-employed many things are deductible such as wear & tear on equipment, travel to meetings with clients, office space and utilities, (or a percentage of your rent and utilities at home if you work from home), etc.

You could even end up with the Government owing you money in the form of a rebate!

Buy a copy of TaxCut software, (should be dirt cheap at this time of year), and tally up your incoming and outgoing finances for an idea of what will happen when you file.

seen.to summed it up pretty well. Just some advice in life, never mess with people who can do things to you that you cant do to them, the IRS and mob fit the bill for that

Ya, in the Us you have to file taxes unless you make under X amount, and X amount is so low that if you are making less than that taxes are the very least of your concerns.

Taxes are very important things in our life. Everybody has to pay them otherwise you'll deal with a tax p[olice.

Yes, I think you should fill out W2 if they ask (some larger corporations or guru.com will ask such things.) By the way, even if they are "paying you under the table", you still need to report that income in your tax return.

Do you have to do it if you are under 18?

just add what you make to your household income if you are under 18

In the US, if you pay a consultant/freelancer less than $600 over the year then you don't have to report that person as a 1099. If it's more than that, you should be giving your employer a W2 and both of you have to make sure you report the same exact income to the IRS. The IRS looks for conflicting reports from separate entities, so even if it's just a mistake in reporting, this kind of thing can get you audited. And that's never fun, even for us honest people